Human Implications of Human-Robot Interaction

Papers from the AAAI Workshop

Autonomous humanoid robots have begun to display levels of human-like behavior and appearance that call for responsible attention to important psychological, sociological, philosophical, and spiritual implications of human-robot interaction (HRI). As ongoing commercial development of these robots makes human-robot interaction increasingly common, representatives of human culture even beyond the technical community need to engage HRI phenomena and seek clearer understanding of their potentially significant effects upon people. Moreover, artificial intelligence is maturing in ways that oblige its own technical community to examine the effects of HRI upon other components of human culture. It is plausible, for example, to anticipate that cumulative HRI experiences may produce novel and fundamental changes of the following kinds: altered concepts of human identity, human consciousness, human freedom, human society, human moral status, human moral responsibility, and human uniqueness.

Accordingly, this AAAI-07 workshop discusses the foregoing kinds of potential changes among members of the artificial intelligence (AI) community, as well as other areas such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, and theology. The basic objective of this workshop was to cultivate dialogue that will improve awareness and understanding of specifically human implications of HRI. The fact that this topic area has become timely and important makes it a worthwhile part of the Twenty-Second AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.